The curtain rises at Mahalia Jackson Theater

STAFF PHOTO BY TED JACKSONPatrons mill about outside the newly refurbished Mahalia Jackson Theater of the Performing Arts as the facility is officially dedicated and reopened Thursday January 8, 2009.

More than three decades ago, Ricky Gettridge joined a crew of union tradesmen who smeared layer after layer of plaster to create the walls of the Mahalia Jackson Theater of the Performing Arts, then New Orleans' newest and most elegant venue for world-class opera, dance and stage presentations.

On Thursday night, more than three years after Hurricane Katrina nearly destroyed the landmark at the heart of Louis Armstrong Park, Gettridge returned to see how the next generation of craftsmen had managed the tedious task of putting it back together.

One of thousands who attended Thursday's reopening celebration -- a rare triumph in the frustrating slog of the city's recovery -- Gettridge also came for the music: a "New Orleans All-Star Revue" featuring trumpeter Kermit Ruffins, soul singer Irma Thomas and other local headliners who blended their talents for the first performance at the Mahalia Jackson Theater since the 2005 flood.

"It's like my identity, " said Gettridge, tambourine in hand, as he waited for the 7:30 p.m. curtain.

As Gettridge made his way toward a grand staircase that leads to the theater's front door, Mayor Ray Nagin and a troupe of local politicians gathered at the North Rampart Street entrance to the park. They waited until dusk, then threw a ceremonial switch.

In an instant, the 32-acre sanctuary of lawns and lagoons at the edge of the French Quarter -- shuttered and dark since Katrina -- bathed in the light of dozens of refurbished street lamps and giant rice-paper globes that flew high in the night sky.

Nagin and several hundred spectators then fell into a second-line behind The Original Pin Stripe Brass Band. They wound their way around a bronze statue of Satchmo and back to the theater where they danced under a clear sky on a unseasonably warm January evening.

'Bigger, better, stronger'

Hope Hayes shook her shoulders and tapped her feet to the beat of Al Johnson's "Carnival Time." Hayes, of Harvey, said she could not have missed the theater's inaugural post-Katrina night.

Before the storm, Hayes said she loved coming to the theater for ballet recitals and classical music performances. She would have loved to attend every event there during the next week as part of the reopening festivities.

"But they're all sold out. I already checked, " she said, then quickly corrected herself. "Well, you can get the $1,000 tickets."

Indeed, Thursday's crowd was a sell-out, of sorts. Though seats were free, tickets given out on a first-come, first-served basis had disappeared by midweek.

The evening festivities came after a day of celebration, including an afternoon ceremony in which city leaders joined officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Louisiana Recovery Authority and the city's performing arts organizations to honor the spirit of cooperation that made the $27 million restoration project possible.

"This is the start of what I predict will be a year of unprecedented construction in the city, " Nagin said. "It signals to the world that the cultural arts in New Orleans are back bigger, better and stronger than ever before."

Recovery Director Ed Blakely called the theater the "jewel in the crown" of the city's recovery and predicted that many more damaged public facilities will reopen in 2009. "This isn't the last door that we're going to open; it's one of the first, " he said.

Nagin boasted that the Mahalia Jackson Theater was rebuilt for $22 million with a 21st century sound system, a digital cinema screen, enhanced lighting, a new orchestra shell and a cutting-edge ballet floor.

"It can do just about anything you want except fly, " the mayor said.

Another $5 million was spent to rehab Louis Armstrong Park.

'Several miracles'

Strolling past a freshly cut red ribbon and into the grand lobby, the guests ogled shiny new finishes and wondered aloud how a building that took on 14 feet of floodwater, which destroyed electrical and mechanical systems in the basement, could be revived.

In the theater, rows of blue floor lights illuminated 2,100 lavender-upholstered seats. The drawn, mustard-colored stage curtain hid a flurry of last-minute activity, including a piano tuner striking at the high-pitched keys of a polished, black concert grand piano.

The city's deputy chief administrative officer, Cynthia Sylvain-Lear, who has coordinated the reconstruction and financing of hundreds of City Hall recovery projects, marveled Thursday that the theater project was complete.

"Getting the project done in a short period of time was nothing short of several miracles, " she said.

As the minutes ticked toward showtime Thursday night, Gloria and Eric Brown sipped Diet Coke and red wine and flipped through their playbills.

Sitting dead center and midway up the main seating floor, the couple said being back at Mahalia Jackson Theater reconfirmed the wisdom of their decision to move back to New Orleans, even if getting back to their flooded Mid-City home required moving four times and settling in a house that still isn't quite finished.

"It's so wonderful, " said Gloria Brown, 74. "I'm so glad that I lived to see all this change. I just wish everyone could see it."

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Michelle Krupa can be reached at mkrupa@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3312.